Page 89 of Bitter Discord

Yet he was scared of William.

That didn’t bode well for me.

I walked slowly to the window, keeping my eyes on William and my body turned toward him, and opened a set of blinds. I waved back, wondering if Fenris would see it. I hoped he didn’t.

“That’s not enough. Do a bit more,” William murmured, a little more flirtatious than I would have liked. “Text him. Tell him to leave. There’s nothing happening here. And I will read that text before you send it.”

Sighing, I pulled out my phone and typed out a text, explaining this wasn’t an emergency to Fenris. I didn’t tell Heath. William implied he only knew about Fenris, and I would only tell Fenris to back off. He would go back to Heath, and Heath would know something was wrong.

Let’s hope he also knows not to rush in. William is definitely our guy, but I don’t know where Arlo is yet. I need to see him before everything goes to shit. William could have him somewhere dangerous, and if we can’t sniff him out…

I showed William the text and waited as he inspected it.

“How did you know she has a werewolf out there?” Lonan asked, breaking the silence.

“I was careful. I knew you wouldn’t want a werewolf fucker in your business, even if it meant your life, yet she knew I was here.” William smiled at me. “I assumed right. You can be a little predictable, Jacky. There was a problem, and you asked a werewolf to fix it. Though, I do want to know… Do you have werewolves tracking every werecat in the city now? I know many left your little abode earlier this evening, but I was waiting for Lonan.”

As he talked, he hit send for my text and handed my phone back to me. I wondered why Lonan hadn’t tried to attack him. I was still waiting because I needed to make sure Arlo was in the building or find out where he was if not here, but Lonan was William’s next target. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t fighting for his life. William cleared his throat, telling me he wanted an answer.

“No. They and the BSA are working together. Lonan didn’t agree to the BSA tracking and monitoring him, so he was supposed to stay in the mansion for the evening until we caught Mason’s killer… which I assume is you,” I tacked on at the end, eyeing the werecat, whose smile seemed off-kilter and wrong.

“Oh, Mason…” William nodded. “Lonan was supposed to be last night, but he wasn’t around. No one was…” He chuckled. “Not the point. I can’t believe you got the BSA involved, and I really can’t believe you got any of the others to agree to it…” He mumbled a curse and started talking to himself so quickly and quietly, I couldn’t follow him. The one thing I could figure out was he was racing through possibilities, options, and information, putting the pieces together. I caught my name and Heath’s, even Carey, Dirk, and Landon. I heard Zuri and Jabari, even Jabari’s mate and son. I caught a mention about Mischa’s Russian village…

There was something terrifying about the speed his mind raced and just how much he knew about us.

“Did Zuri really have a baby with an Immortal?” he finally asked. “That’s one thing I’ve never been able to verify. Her mother has been hanging around her, and Subira is probably the one person I fear. I can outsmart Hasan and all his children, but her… With her magic, my Talent wouldn’t be very useful.”

I kept my mouth shut, staring at him, trying to keep a blank face.

“Answer,” he snarled.

I was so stunned by the violent switch, I took a step back, fear racing through me.

“Yes,” I finally forced out, hating that I was giving him another piece of my family’s life.

“Interesting. I wonder what the kid will be,”—he snorted—“or if it’ll live to adulthood.”

“William, what do you want?” I asked him carefully. “Why are you doing this?”

“You all killed my father, so I’m going to destroy everything you ever cared about,” William explained, the smile coming back, but his eyes were so fucking cold, I felt the chill in my soul. I was staring into the abyss, madness covering a deep rage.

“Who—”

“Mikkel,” Lonan said softly, and William snarled again, making Lonan sink into his couch.

I tried thinking about everything, but the incident with Mikkel was so long ago. I didn’t remember if Mikkel had children, living or dead. He’d wanted to overthrow the family by taking me hostage and executing me to show the weakness of the family to the world. He would have ascended to power if Hasan stepped down in exchange for my life. He hated the nepotism and the black-and-white rule of the family. Hated me and what I represented, the youngest, with no experience and no useful political ties, yet given a position of power.

For the life of me, I couldn’t remember anything about him having a son.

“He wanted to cut my head off,” I whispered to William. “He played the game, and he lost. I’m sorry, but—”

I was backhanded before I realized what was happening, staggering as stars danced in my eyes. It might have been the back of his hand, but it felt like I was hit by a truck. I steadied myself, rubbing my jaw and cheek, grateful nothing felt so bad that it could be a fracture. I knew, after the force of that hit, I was lucky.

“Don’t apologize,” William growled. “Don’t. It doesn’t matter what happened. I realized the problem, and nowI’mfixing it.”

“What problem would that be?” I asked, wanting more. It was a double-edged sword. I didn’t know where Arlo was, but he would probably reveal that in time. That would also probably mean he was getting ready to kill people. Including me. I knew he was readjusting his plan to include my death. I couldn’t exactly walk out and pretend I didn’t know he was here. He had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure no one knew he was around.

“My father wanted to perpetuate a broken system. His fight for power over the system got him killed. The system is what your family loves more than anything because your father built it. So, I’m bringing down the whole damn thing. If this goes to plan, the war between the moon cursed will crush the Tribunal, which was founded to stop it.” William’s grin stretched wider.

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